Phonics Focus: Your child will learn sounds and spellings for the /ow/ and /aw/ sounds.

HAVE your child find words with each sound/ spelling in a children’s book or magazine.

High-Frequency Words: Have your child practice reading the following words: good and very

Grammar: Your child will learn that synonyms are words that have the same or similar, meanings (small/little, alike/same), and antonyms are words that have opposite meanings (hot/cold, tall/short)

Writing:  We will be writing creative narratives this week.  This will be a fun week of storytelling using our imaginations.

Phonics Focus: Your child will learn the following sounds and spellings: /͝/ spelled _ew and u_e, /oo/ spelled oo

HAVE your child find words with each sound/ spelling in a children’s book or magazine.

High-Frequency Words: Have your child practice reading the following words: good and very

Grammar: Your child will learn what prepositions are. Prepositions are words that tell where (above, below, beside) and when (after, before, during) for a noun or pronoun

Writing:  We will continue our unit on “Friendly Letters”.  This week, they will write a letter to a friend using the writing process of editing, revising and writing their final copy.

Focus: Your child will learn the /͝/ sound spelled oo, u, and _ue.

HAVE your child find words with each sound/ spelling in a children’s book or magazine.

High-Frequency Word: Have your child review and practice reading the word blue.

Grammar: Your child will learn how to expand sentences by adding adjectives and adverbs.

HAVE your child say a sentence. Then have him or her add an adjective or adverb to the sentence to expand it

Writing:  We will continue our unit on “Friendly Letters”.  In this unit, your child will learn how to format a friendly letter, why such a format exists and start writing friendly letters to others.  Since they learned how to write the addresses in an earlier social studies unit, this will come in handy here.  Hopefully, we can find some pen pals and start exchanging letters with their class.

Focus: Your child will learn the following consonant sounds and spellings: /kn/, /gn/, /mb/ and /wr/.  We will learn words such as know, knife, gnat, climb, and write and discuss the silent consonant in words that follow this pattern.

HAVE your child write a word that contains each sound/spelling and then draw a picture of it.

Grammar: Your child will learn that possessive pronouns take the place of possessive nouns and show ownership (my, mine, yours, her, hers, his, its).

Writing:  We have started our unit on “Friendly Letters”.  In this unit, your child will learn how to format a friendly letter, why such a format exists and start writing friendly letters to others.  Since they learned how to write the addresses in an earlier social studies unit, this will come in handy here.  Hopefully, we can find some pen pals and start exchanging letters with their class.

Focus: Your child will learn the following sounds and spellings: /ō/ spelled oa_ and _ow, /ū/ spelled _ew, and _ue.

HAVE your child write a word that contains each sound/spelling and then draw a picture of it.

High-Frequency Word: Have your child practice reading the following words: away and their

Grammar: Your child will learn that pronouns take the place of nouns and help make writing easier and more interesting to read. Examples of pronouns include I, he, she, it, we, they, me, him, her, you, us, and them

Writing:  We will wrap up our unit on opinion letters and transition into writing friendly letters. This unit will focus on understanding the structure of letter writing, including proper capitalization of dates and proper nouns. Students will utilize graphic organizers to effectively plan and organize their writing.

Focus: Your child will learn the following sounds and spellings: /ī/ spelled igh, _y, and _ie

HAVE your child write a word that contains each new sound/spelling and draw a picture of it.

High-Frequency Words: Have your child practice reading the following words: came, don’t, right, sleep

Grammar: Your child will learn that adverbs tell more information about verbs by telling how (slowly, quietly), when (today, tomorrow), or where (here, outside).

Writing:  Students will edit and revise their opinion writing using the elements of an opinion that they learned last week.  Students will introduce the topic, state an opinion, and supply a reason for the opinion in their writing.

Focus: Your child will learn the following sounds and spellings: /s/ spelled cy; /ā/ spelled ai_, _ay.

HAVE your child name a word that contains each sound/spelling. Then have him or her use each word in a sentence.

High-Frequency Words: Have your child review and practice reading the following words: could, day, way.

Grammar: Your child will review declarative (telling), interrogative (asking), exclamatory (strong feeling), and imperative (command) sentences.

Writing:  Students will start working on another opinion paper using the elements of an opinion that they learned last week.  Students will introduce the topic, state an opinion, and supply a reason for the opinion in their writing.

Focus: Your child will learn the following sounds and spellings: /ē/ spelled _y, _ie_, and _ey.

Words to practice blending with your child include happy, city, heavy, chief, field, cities, key, hockey, and valley.

High-Frequency Words: Have your child review and practice reading the following words: come, every, going, here, me, pretty, some, too.

Grammar: Your child will review simple sentences and subject-verb agreement. Every sentence has two parts—a naming part and an action part, and the subject and verb must agree. (The puppy sleeps on the rug.)

Writing:  Students will continue writing their opinion paper using the elements of an opinion that they learned last week.  Students will introduce the topic, state an opinion, and supply a reason for the opinion in their writing.

Focus: Your child will learn the following sounds and spellings: /ē/ spelled e. e_e, ee, and ea.

HAVE your child write a word that contains each new sound/spelling and draw a picture of it.

High-Frequency Words: Have your child practice reading the following words: be, green, or, take, two.

Grammar: Your child will learn how to make nouns that end in y plural (penny→pennies) and add commas to a list. (Sam brought a sandwich, grapes, and water for lunch.)

Writing:  Students will write their opinion paper using the elements of an opinion they learned last week.  Students will introduce the topic, state an opinion, and supply a reason for the opinion in their writing.

Focus: Your child will learn the following sounds and spellings: /ō/ spelled o, o_e; /ū/ spelled u, u_e.

HAVE your child find words that contain these sound/spellings in children’s books or magazines. Help your child read the words as needed.

High-Frequency Words: Have your child practice reading the word “over”

Grammar: Your child will capitalize the days of the week and months of the year and correctly use commas in dates (Sunday, January 1, 2017).

Writing:  Students will be learning to identify and explain the elements of an opinion writing piece.  Students will learn how to introduce the topic, state an opinion, and supply a reason for the opinion in their writing.

Phonics: We will be reviewing our magic e, soft c and soft g sounds this week using fun holiday games.

Words to practice blending with your child include find, mild, bike, five, ice, cent, circus, circle, page, large, margin, and ginger

Reading: “Holiday’s Around the World”

Grammar: Your child will learn that names of people and proper nouns need to be capitalized (Anna, Marcus, Central Park, Empire State Building).

Writing:  This week, our writing will be embedded in our Holiday’s Around the World unit such as letter writing, explanatory writing and opinion writing.

Phonics: We child will learn the following sounds and spellings: /ī/ spelled i, i_e; /s/ spelled ce, ci_; and /j/ spelled ge, gi_.

Words to practice blending with your child include find, mild, bike, five, ice, cent, circus, circle, page, large, margin, and ginger

Reading: “City Life and Town Life”

Summary: The characteristics of a large city (New York City) and a small town (Alden, New York) are compared and contrasted.

Essential Questions: How is living in a city different from living in a small town? How is it the same?

Grammar: Your child will learn that names of people and proper nouns need to be capitalized (Anna, Marcus, Central Park, Empire State Building).

Writing:  This week, our writing will be embedded in our Holiday’s Around the World unit such as letter writing, explanatory writing and opinion writing.

Phonics: we will learn the following sounds and spellings/y/ spelled y, /v/ spelled v, and /ā/ spelled a and a_e.

Words to practice blending with your child include yes, yard, verb, seven, table, April, ate, and gave

Reading: “Just Listen”

Summary:  Sounds are made by vibrations. These vibrations travel through the air, water, and solid things such as wood, to your ears.

Essential Question: How can observations lead to new discoveries?

Summary: You can learn a lot about Earth and the Sun by looking at shadows.

Grammar: Your child will learn that an imperative sentence gives a command or makes a request. It ends with a period or an exclamation point.

Writing:  This week, we will pick up where we left off on writing their personal narrative about a celebration.  Students finish their rough draft and we will go through the editing process as they begin to write their final copy.

Phonics: we will learn the following sounds and spellings: /Ə/; /Əl/spelled -al, -el, -il, and le; /nk/ spelled ■nk; and /kw/ spelled qu_.

Words to practice blending with your child include ahead, happen, person, metal, camel, fossil, puzzle, link, thank, quiz, and squint.

Reading: “Ben’s Bright Idea”

Summary:  Ben Franklin was a leader, scientist, and inventor. His invention of the lightning rod kept buildings from catching on fire.

Essential Question: How can observations lead to new discoveries?

Summary: You can learn a lot about Earth and the Sun by looking at shadows.

Grammar: Your child will learn that an imperative sentence gives a command or makes a request. It ends with a period or an exclamation point.

Writing:  This week, we will be writing a “How To” on how to cook a turkey.  This will be a fun writing assignment for them about following directions.

Phonics: We will continue working on r-controlled vowels such as -or, -ar, -er, -ir and -ur, ear, and /ng/ spelled ■ng

Words to practice blending with your child include sir, bird, fur, turn, learn, earth, sing, and searching.

High-Frequency Words: Have your child practice reading the following words: any, but, do, from, girl, her, like, long, my, no, water, where, and with.

Reading: This week’s reading selection: Me and My Shadow

Summary: You can learn a lot about Earth and the Sun by looking at shadows.

Essential Questions: Where have you seen a shadow? When do you see your shadow?

Grammar: Your child will learn that an exclamatory sentence shows strong emotion and ends with an exclamation point. (Great job!)

Writing:  Students will write a narrative in which they recount two or more appropriately sequenced events, include some details regarding what happened, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide some sense of closure.